Author: teresaambrosio

Not gonna lie! I am no rich kid. I didn’t have the money to buy all the university textbooks full-price because their cost was prohibitive. And there is no shame in saying that most of my books came from doggy websites or I copied the chapters that I needed for the original version. I wish I could be back in Italy to show all my notes and the pile of sheets accumulated over the years. Feel free to report me for infringing the copyright. I don’t care. None can take my knowledge away from me anymore.

Sophie Okolo, MPH, is the founder and chief editor of Global Health Aging, a web-based publication covering the research and news dedicated to “exploring the implications of longer, healthier lives.” Sophie is a science writer and researcher with a bachelor’s degree in bioinformatics and a master’s degree in public health. She is passionate about creating a better quality of life for older adults through increasing access to preventive care and building public awareness of older adults’ perception and treatment. Her writing has appeared in Forbes, PBS Next Avenue, Massive Science, Philips, IEEE Potentials, and others. An advocate for STEM inclusion, Sophie supports various causes that improve women and minority representation. She is a TEDMED 2020 Research Scholar, and currently serves as an advisor for humanKINDER – a company that shines a light on untold stories, ideas, and solutions for systems change. You can follow Sophie on Twitter or Instagram.

On Tuesday the 27th of August, I submitted my PhD thesis. I thought that this day would never arrive. I had so many dark moments, ups downs, had to change lab, supervisor, research topic, how could one see the light at the end of the tunnel? But I did it. And, although I still feel overwhelmed by the whole process, it’s a good way of being tired. It comes from a sense of accomplishment. Everything I worked for over the last 4 years finally came together.

PARTE IN ITALIANO DOPO QUELLA IN INGLESE.If you think that what’s going on in South America isn’t your problem just because you don’t live there, THINK AGAIN!

The Amazon rainforest is not supposed to burn at such an alarming rate. In fact, rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with annual rainfall, in the case of tropical forest, between 250 and 450 centimetres.

I just want to start off with apologising for the long hiatus from blogging. The last 2 months have been hectic. I finished off my labwork, I am almost done with my thesis, I presented my research at the European Symposium on Organic Chemistry and I am applying for jobs. I also had a two-week vacation to visit my family in Italy because I needed a break from everything so badly.

I was featured by the #uniquescientist team for the women in STEM week. Unique scientist is a project that aims at showcasing diversity in the STEM fields.
Main points:
1. You don’t have to be born with a first class ticket to become a scientist,
2. Women can be both physically and intellectually attractive and do science,
3. Let’s redefine the idea of success in academia.

July has been a crazy month, like every month since the beginning of this year. I have come to realise that the way I approach my life, especially my work life is a bit unhealthy because I have of my problem with anxiety. Since a very young age, my anxiety, my feeling of inadequacy and poor self-esteem made me work like crazy. It is very sad to say and I am not happy about the fact that the reason for my constant achievements is due to my anxiety. This is not what I want from my life anymore and I am trying to adopt more healthy and sustainable routines to achieve as much without constantly burning out, lacking sleep and relying on painkillers. And I don’t want to even get started about how bad this PhD affected my mental health.

I am off to a conference in Vienna from this Saturday and for the whole following week. It will be a big event with big-name professors from all over the world and about 400 posters on display. I initially applied to do an oral presentation, but I didn’t make it. So, I was given the chance to present a poster. Not too bad. Going to such huge events where you will meet all the people whose names you have been reading on papers for 4+ years can be daunting. And if you are an introvert, it might feel like a nightmare.Continue reading “How to shine at business events as an introvert.”→

June is coming to an end and this is the time of the month when I usually stop for a bit and reflect on my monthly progress. In January, I started rewriting for my website seriously and one of the aims of this virtual diary was to evaluate my personal and career development. I have been doing this for 6 months now and I have to say that I am very happy with the progress.Continue reading “Reflections on the last month I spent in the lab. #100daysofdissertation”→

I recently started getting loads of questions about applying for PhD scholarships to study in the UK and how I got my own scholarship. I think this is an interesting question and I decided to put this article together to share my experience.Continue reading “How I got my PhD scholarship in the UK”→